


ashore

by dreamsailing



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, human!seongwu, merman!minhyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-02 22:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14554596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsailing/pseuds/dreamsailing
Summary: it ends and starts with a kiss.





	ashore

**Author's Note:**

> prompt 59: some legends say that mermaids are soulless. truth to be told is, they need to fall in love with humans which they set out to find a cure to get rid of their fish tail for legs and get the soul as they became a complete human being.
> 
> notes: 
> 
> 1\. mermaids and mermen who have human soulmates are given no clue as to who they are or how to find them.
> 
> 2\. the key to wholeness is a kiss shared with your fated.
> 
> (and oh, minhyun's hair is blonde here.)
> 
> enjoy reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>  

 

 _i'll be waiting,_  
_for the day we become one_  
_i'll be waiting,_  
_'till the day you return_  
_i'll be waiting,_  
_with my heart still open for you_  
_no matter how long,_  
_i'll be waiting for you_

 

 

 

creatures of the sea are not soulless as stories make them to be.

they are only incomplete, a half of a whole.

unknown to many, mermaids and mermen are actually born fated with someone. a soulmate, if one must say. 

 

on the night of their 21st birthdays, their tail either retains or changes its color. 

unchanging color entails their fated is one of their kind, a child of the ocean; 

grey, the saddest color, means their fated hasn’t lived to this moment, hasn’t lived to meet their other half. and so the other has to carry on with their life forever as a half; 

gold, a special case, means their fated is not one of their own, but is human. a being completely different, one that lives in the world above.

 

when minhyun’s tail bled into the color of gold that fated night, it felt like the world stopped wheeling on its axis. everything turned blurry, incomprehensible. the turbulence that grew inside his head slamming on every crevice of his mind.

his other half is a human. a being born and raised in a world completely different from his.

there's a hurricane inside of him, a set of emotions that cannot be easily encapsulated into words.

minhyun doesn't realize he's shaking until a pair of arms wound around him. he opens his eyes to see a grey tail and comforting words being whispered to his ears. he eventually relaxes into the hold.

he breathes out and clings onto his brother, seeking the much needed reassurance he so desperately needed at that moment.

“it’s going to be alright.” jisung’s voice is gentle to his ears, so is his palm at the small of minhyun’s back.

the older doesn’t let go of him until the shaking subsides. he led the younger to his bed and brush the hair away from his face.

“you’re going to find them.” jisung says with a smile. his brother’s words were enough to ignite a little spark of hope inside of minhyun.

he only nods his head in response, still too shaken to form words. with a gentle press of lips against his temple, minhyun closes his eyes and listens to the quiet movement of jisung leaving the room. 

sleep evaded him no matter how tight he squeezed his eyes shut and prayed exhaustion to overcome him. the night deepened with minhyun lying wide awake in his bed, mind muddled more than ever.

with the storm growing inside of him becoming unbearable, minhyun slowly raises himself and  sneaks out into the quiet midnight ocean.

on that very night, minhyun swims to the surface for the first time.

 

* * *

 

to wait is a painfully excruciating task.

but to wait for someone uncertain—unknown—is another thing.

it’s easier to wait when one knows what exactly to wait for and until when should they wait. but to wait for a person one has no inkling of knowledge as to who is and when shall they arrive seems almost like a lost cause.

days turned into weeks. weeks turned into months. months turned into years.

seasons changed: drastically at times, slowly at times.

minhyun witnessed how the colors of leaves changed along with the seasons: from lush green in summer to reddish brown in autumn; how they fall sickly off the branches in grey winters and grow back lively come spring.

people changed too.

over the course of years minhyun has observed life in the surface, he has grown fond of humans and their mortality.

he watched how the fishermen’s sons and daughters have grown, taller and brighter each passing year. how their mothers have developed fine lines underneath their eyes from the countless afternoons they have called them to come home.

the children used to play by the shore, playfully chasing each other or busily picking up shells washed up the shore to bring home to their mothers.

being a witness to their growth and development brings a smile on minhyun’s lips. their laughter has kept him company everyday until the sun sets. 

however, when night falls and big winds start blowing and the waves withdraw farther from the shore, minhyun allows himself to feel the hollowness inside his chest. a nightly reminder of why he is at the surface.

it is only during these moments that minhyun lets himself drown in his thoughts, in his worries.

_when will they come?_

_will they ever come?_

 

oftentimes minhyun loses himself in the countless scenarios his mind has conjured about how his soulmate could be when they finally arrive (if they do arrive). 

will they be like the first snow? beautiful, ephemeral and mesmerizing? 

or will they be like the summer heat? bright and radiant, but scorching?

 

minhyun wonders  _how_  while the question  _when_ hovers at the back of his mind.

he sighs. the possibility of his fated never coming to meet him bubbles at back of his mind, causing the corners of his lips to downturn.

he shakes his head, tries to clear his mind of the thought.

 

they will come.

they will come _soon_. 

 

* * *

 

minhyun is by his usual spot under the short cliff he frequents. a spot that offers an unobstructed view of the shore but is still hidden perfectly.

he has been singing a song he has been hearing countless near the shore. the lyrics have been stuck in his head, repeating themselves over and over until he finds himself memorizing and mouthing them unconsciously.

 

“why are you singing such a sad song?”

 

the voice is foreign, not belonging to any of the many minhyun has come to associate with the people from the shore. it's the first time he has come across such voice and the realization of being discovered sends a bolt down his spine, making him straighten his back.

he looks up to see someone with their legs dangling by the ledge of the cliff. minhyun couldn’t make out of their face with the moon behind casting a shadow over them, but he does manages to trace out a small face with chiseled jaw and hair that frames it perfectly. 

“why are you singing so sadly?”

the person speaks again, albeit now they move, swinging their legs in the air and leaning back against their arms.

the moonlight falls upon them and minhyun finally sees their face. he notes of high cheek bones, slightly round eyes, a beautiful nose, and thin lips.

minhyun then catches the three studs lining up the person’s right earlobe and how the light bounces against them.

 

it’s the fact that the first question thrown at him by the human is not an inquiry about _what_ he is that throws minhyun off-guard. looking at how the human seems disinterested at how minhyun has a tail instead of a pair of legs makes minhyun wonder whether this human even uses his reason, or is it himself that's losing grip over his own?

 

_couldn’t this human see how different i am from him?_

_is he not even scared?_

 

but the human only continues to swing his legs, eyes trained on minhyun as he waits for an answer.

“i don’t know,” minhyun croaks out when he finally regains his ability to speak.

the boy hums, hair getting caught in the breeze that passes.

“how can you sing such a sad song when you’re unfeeling?”

minhyun’s brows knit at the words. he tilts his head. “unfeeling?”

the man catches the look on minhyun’s face and confusion immediately washes over his face.

“aren’t mermaids and mermen supposed to be unfeeling?”

minhyun lets out a scoff but it’s drowned by the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

“i have a heart,” he offers a small smile to the person sitting at the cliff, “only that it’s a half instead of a whole.”

 

* * *

 

when love arrives, they will be nothing like one expects them to be.

they are neither the beautiful first snow nor the scorching heat of the sun in summer one thought they would be.

some will come unexpectedly like hurricanes—an unstoppable force out to leave a mark in every way it passes.

or maybe like the spring rain, they will come as a pleasant awakening to a beaten, worn-out heart—a refreshing drizzle.

or _maybe_ , maybe they will appear like the stars: dazzling and mesmerizing—like diamonds decorating the skies. and like how diamonds are rough at the edges, they also come with their imperfections: maybe with a messy hair, a scratch on the cheek, chapped lips, and calloused fingers.

despite them being different from expectations, still, we learn to love them regardless. 

 

* * *

 

 

minhyun doesn’t know what to expect out of their first encounter, but the boy frequenting the cliff every night to accompany him is surely beyond what minhyun could have expected.

the boy comes back the following night, the night after, and the night after that.

except after their first encounter, the boy vacates his spot on the ledge of the cliff and comes down to the rocks where minhyun is.

 

minhyun learns his name to be seongwu, a lover of the arts, music, and poetry.

sometimes he comes with a streak of paint on his hair, other times on his cheek. on some nights he hums to soft melodies, mumbles words under his breath and breaks out to a full song occasionally. every other night he brings a different book, a compilation of poems, and reads passages to minhyun until late into the night.

minhyun easily learns that seongwu keeps little to no boundaries or secrets about himself. it only takes a few nights before seongwu empties himself onto minhyun, telling him about his passion and his dreams. on exceptional nights when he feels the adrenaline overflowing in his veins and confidence dripping from his skin, he brings some of his paintings for minhyun to see and reads drafts of his short poems for minhyun to hear.

and with this, with seongwu’s honest words and lucent emotions, minhyun learns that they may not be too different as he thought they would be.

 

* * *

 

“the first night i saw you,” seongwu is sketching on his on his sketchpad again. a new project, he tells minhyun, after he has finished drawing the moon reflected over the midnight ocean as minhyun has requested. “you said you have a heart, only that it’s a half instead of a whole. what did you mean by that?”

minhyun peeks over seongwu’s shoulder to see the other drawing an animal with two grand antlers on its head and a pair of beautiful eyes. it’s foreign to minhyun, most probably a land-bound creature. he leans back and reserves his question about the creature and ponders on seongwu’s question instead.

“i only meant it metaphorically. beings like me are only able to feel partially. we don't feel emotions to the extreme.”

“like being happy you think your stomach would burst? or being too sad it feels like your heart’s being wrenched out of your chest?”

“maybe something like that.” minhyun smiles and seongwu accepts his answer with a slow nod of his head.

“so that’s why you’re looking for your fated, to feel all of these things?”

“that’s only one reason out of the many.”

seongwu places his sketchpad down, perches his chin on his palm and turns to look at minhyun. “and the other reasons?”

“maybe not for everyone, but for me, it’s to search for someone who would set my heart on fire.” minhyun meets seongwu’s gaze, and from the many times their eyes have locked with each other, this is the first time minhyun has noticed a different twinkle in the other’s eyes. “and make me feel comfortable while i’m burning.” 

 

* * *

 

“it’s beautiful.”

minhyun hears seongwu whisper and follows the other’s line of sight to see it trained on his tail.

minhyun grows shy only for a short fraction of seconds before he brings his tail out of the water. his eyes trail back to seongwu’s face and sees nothing but pure amazement and wonder in the human’s eyes. 

“beautiful,” seongwu says again in a whisper and minhyun feels the heat creeping up his cheeks, down to his neck.

he has never thought of his golden tail as something special aside from it being an indication of having a human fated, but hearing seongwu say the word beautiful like the air has been stolen out of his lungs at the mere sight of minhyun’s tail makes the latter appreciate his being a little bit more.

“i’d like to try and paint you.” seongwu says, a sincere smile on his face.

minhyun lets his tail fall back to the water, trying not to lose himself in the sensation of their skin meeting for the first time from where their shoulders brush as seongwu sidles closer to him.

he hangs his head low, praying that the moonlight wouldn’t give him away while he tries to contain the smile creeping on his lips.

“show me when you finish it.”

 

* * *

 

“were you scared?”

“of what?”

“that night your tail changed color.”

minhyun falls silent, thinks back to the moment his world was titled upside down. it was a whirlwind of emotions, like being caught up in a tornado: feeling nothing and everything at once.

“initially, fear was what i only felt. but later on, when i learned how to come to terms with it, hope also started to build within me. along with anticipation and excitement."

“how could you develop something positive out of something that could potentially destroy you?”

minhyun laughs softly but seongwu only continues to stare at him, bewildered.

“a dangerous love, doesn’t it sound exciting to you?”

there's a different light that sparkles in seongwu's eyes before he returns to his book, stripping his attention away from minhyun.

 

minhyun knows.

of course he knows.

this love—if it arrives—could either make or break him. break him to the point of death. no repair, no point of return. 

 

but every morning, as he makes his way to the surface, he asks himself one question: which is worse, to never meet someone you are to love or to risk everything but feel everything at the same time?

minhyun has set his mind on the latter since the first night he started waiting.

 

“i ache from waiting, but i have learned to love it. when the time comes, it will possibly crush me. but i will probably still learn to love every part of it.”

seongwu stares at him over the book, his gaze incomprehensible.

“doesn’t that sound lovely beyond belief?”

 

* * *

 

_in me, although small,_

_there is a galaxy_

_compared to what can be seen,_

_it is an even bigger galaxy._

_you are always in that galaxy._

_and if you also have a galaxy,_

_it will be good if i am there too._

 

having spent countless nights with seongwu, it was inevitable for minhyun not to pick up on the other’s interests. seongwu had a way of pulling him into his universe: from the way his eyes shine bright as he tells minhyun of another story he has discovered, or the spring in his steps when he bounds towards minhyun to share yet another poem he has come to love, or with his paint-smeared cheeks on the nights he comes with an echoing laugh, proudly telling minhyun he has finished yet another painting.

during nights when he reads poems to minhyun, he recites the words in emotions that never fail to strike a cord inside of minhyun; in a tone that sometimes feels like a lullaby, a soft whispering to the ears.

 

maybe it’s because of the tranquility that has enveloped this particular night, or the way the waves softly kisses the shore instead of their usual crushing embrace, or the way seongwu's hair dances softly with the breeze that minhyun couldn't hold himself back from sweeping seongwu’s fringe off his eyes. his hand softly caresses seongwu’s face, the pads of his fingers finding their way to the constellation on seongwu’s cheek.

seongwu is shortly rendered immobile by the touch, fire coursing through him from where minhyun has touched him. but when he recovers, he turns his head slowly to look at the other.

minhyun’s hand is suspended in the air from where he has quickly withdrawn it the moment he has caught himself.

but then seongwu takes his hand, places them against his thigh and slots his fingers in between the spaces of minhyun’s own.

with a small smile, he recites the following words all the while looking at minhyun's eyes. he speaks like the words have been long etched at the back of his mind, stamped in his heart and carved in his soul.

 

_compared to the entire galaxy_

_you are someone who isn’t lacking anything_

_i, though i am a far distance away from you,_

_am loving you_

_next time we meet again, i’ll be eyes_

_and you could be ankles,_

_that would be enough._

_even then i’d still continue to love you_

_you understand, right?_

 

* * *

 

“what happens,” seongwu is twiddling his thumb, his eyes trained on his lap while droplets continue to drip from his hair onto his arms. 

he is soaked to the bones from where minhyun has pulled him into the water earlier.

for the entirety of their swim, seongwu has not let go of minhyun even once. minhyun didn’t mind. he instead basked in the warmth seongwu’s hands offered, a wonder how his palms remained warm despite the cool temperature of the water.

“what happens to what?” minhyun asks, trying to shake the water off his own hair.

seongwu catches his bottom lip in between his teeth. minhyun can see the other's hesitation from the way he opens his mouth only to close them again when words desert him.

“what happens if you kiss the wrong person?”

the matter about minhyun being at the surface and the reason behind it was made known to seongwu a month into knowing each other. seongwu didn’t question at first, too busy asking questions about minhyun’s world, about minhyun’s kind, about minhyun’s life in the ocean. but the question about what might happen once minhyun’s mission comes to an end has never been brought up.

“i’ll—” minhyun isn’t surprised. he knew seongwu was bound to ask. but for some reason, he couldn’t find himself to speak of the matter. his throat suddenly feels parched, like his voice wouldn’t allow the words to tumble out of his mouth.

“i’ll disappear.” he heaves a long sigh right after, feeling the air being punched out of his lungs.

seongwu’s face breaks into confusion. “disappear?”

minhyun nods, staring into the vastness ahead. “i’ll become one with the ocean.”

he crouches forward, letting his hand fall from where the waves hit the rocks and where the foam forms. “i’ll turn into this.”

seongwu studies him for a second before letting himself speak, “you’ll turn into foam?”

the journey to wholeness is more of a tragedy than a success. there are only a few in the history of mermaids and mermen having humans as their fated who were able to successfully find each other and spend their lifetimes together.

most fell into the wrong arms, swallowed by the waves in consequence and dissolved into nothingness. some didn’t even take the risk and chose to live the rest of their lives as a half.

but minhyun wouldn’t settle for that. he craves for something more. for completeness.

if fate not be on his side and he falls for the wrong person, minhyun would like to at least try putting up a fight instead of just blatantly giving up.

“and what about the human?” seongwu asks with a meek voice, almost lost with the sound of the gushing waves beneath his sole. “what happens to them?”

minhyun’s smile is tightlipped when he answers, “they’ll forget. they won’t have a single memory about what happened.”

“but that’s unfair—”

“it’s considered as a gift, seongwu,” minhyun cuts him off in a way that leaves no room for arguments. “ignorance is bliss. they wouldn’t have to carry the burden of a mistaken love.”

the air grows thicker as they both fall into silence. the quiet has become a rare occasion ever since seongwu has wormed his way into minhyun's life. with seongwu around, the air is always filled with endless chatter, series of boisterous laughter, and snickers until the wee hours of the morning.

it is at this moment that minhyun learns that silence shared with seongwu is the most unbearable.

it's suffocating.

“you don’t need someone to complete you.”

“seongwu—”

“you are already complete. you are already beautiful. you are already perfect.”

minhyun tries not to hurt with seongwu’s words, but they pierce him like a sharp blade, cutting his heart right open.

 

 _no_.

 

all his life he has never felt complete. there was always a part of him that felt empty. hollow. something that yearns to be filled. 

minhyun only wants to fill the void that has long existed inside of him.

is it wrong to desire to feel complete for once?

 

“it’s more than that, seongwu.” minhyun says, trying to mask the disappointment in his voice as much as he can. “i’m also here to find the person who’s more than just a reason to live for.”

seongwu looks at him but minhyun avoids his eyes. he doesn’t want seongwu to catch the hurt burning in his eyes. “i’m here to share my life with them, too.”

 

* * *

 

“you were singing a sad song the first time we met.” 

the ocean is calm tonight. the air blows softly and is warm enough against their skin.

it’s one of those rare nights when seongwu is surprisingly quiet. not a book or sketchpad in hand, no new passages to read to minhyun, no bizarre ideas that tickle both minhyun’s mind and stomach.

“for someone supposed to be partially unfeeling, your voice sure knows how to tug on heartstrings.”

minhyun’s laughs at this, but it dies shortly when he realizes seongwu doesn’t echo it. he looks at his side to notice the other’s features go somber.

there are words itching at the tip of his tongue, but minhyun holds himself back and waits for seongwu to spill himself at his own pace.

“it’s been ringing inside my head a lot recently.”  seongwu picks up a small rock by his side and throws it down the water. it created ripples, disturbing the calmness of the water. “want to hear me [sing ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtNs1Ob6GK0)it?”

minhyun nods and offers him a smile. he closes his eyes and is immediately carried away by the sound of seongwu's gentle voice.

_as i saw you getting farther away_  
_i still didn’t count this moment as goodbye_

 _it was sweet, being inside those countless memories_  
_how can we forget our two hearts, that were drenched in them?_

 _you will come back_  
_you can’t stand loneliness_  
_you will come back to me_

 _but if i meet you again at that time_  
_will we be able to love again?_  
_as all that time flows by_  
_how many tears will i shed?_

 

“it really is sad,” minhyun says, opening his eyes, “but it also holds hope.”

“i guess that’s what love really is about.” seongwu replies, bringing his legs close to his chest. 

minhyun stares up the sky. it’s empty, not a single star in sight. it’s a sign of an upcoming rain he should warn seongwu about. but something in the air tonight makes minhyun want to keep seongwu close by, not let him escape his sight—just keep him right beside him.

“maybe it is.” minhyun replies, voice gentle like the early morning breeze that caresses their skin. “waiting and trusting them to always come back.”

 

* * *

 

 

seongwu leaves when the sun peeks at the horizon.

 

he does not come back the following night.

 

* * *

 

it’s almost like he disappeared. like words written on sand washed away completely when the ocean comes to kiss the shore, not a single trace of him can be found.

was seongwu just a dream? a figment of minhyun’s imagination which he conjured to accompany him through the lonely nights of waiting?

 _no_ , his mind begs.

seongwu’s smile in his mind is too vivid for it to be just an imagination. the image of the way his eyes brighten whenever it meets minhyun’s are burned at the back of minhyun’s mind. too rich to be unreal.

for over the month minhyun had known seongwu, he has come to liken the boy with the sun: bright and radiant. a beam of light even during stormy days; and when he left, he took his rays with him, leaving minhyun in the cold darkness.

as he sits down gazing at the now empty spot seongwu used to occupy, minhyun realizes the emptiness inside of him has grown, consuming him almost entirely. the hollowness is overtaking him. there is pain inside his chest, a reverberating one. and with every beat his heart makes, the pain intensifies.

he is grieving for something he knows he didn’t even have in the first place.

“seongwu.” the name spills from his mouth over and over.

he spends the entire night casting spells into the ocean, hoping the waves would magically bring the person whose name falls unconditionally from his lips back right beside him.

“come back.”

 

* * *

 

he does come back.

after two painful weeks that felt longer than years of waiting.

 

minhyun perks at the sound of footsteps and whips his head to see seongwu with his hands on his back, his hair windswept and a gash on his left cheek.

“you disappeared.” minhyun says, not a tinge of accusation or anger in it. only sadness. 

seongwu stays on his spot, a good meter away from minhyun. he couldn’t bring himself to meet the other’s eyes.

his answer comes in a whisper. “i needed to.”

“why?”

seongwu slowly raises his head, lets his eyes sweep over minhyun face before smiling sadly, one that awakens the ache inside of minhyun’s chest.

“because i couldn’t look at you without wanting to kiss you.”

the weight of seongwu's words comes crashing over minhyun. the words ring inside of his head—pounding against his ears. his heart is thundering inside of him, beating so hard it frightens minhyun it would leap out of his chest any moment now.

“seongwu—“

“i’m sorry,” seongwu cuts him off by placing a canvas beside minhyun’s tail. he then sprints back to his spot with his head hang low.

minhyun scans the canvas carefully, his eyes widening as he realizes what seongwu has painted.

 

it’s a painting of minhyun. with his dark brown eyes, rosy lips, blonde hair and golden tail.

he looks beautiful. ephemeral, even.

was he really this beautiful in seongwu’s eyes?

 

“seongwu, this is beautiful.” minhyun croaks, letting the pads of his fingers trace the image.

“my hands and ability could only do so much. but i want you to know you are far more beautiful than that.”

minhyun looks at seongwu who has his hands tucked in his jeans, a tinge of pink dusting the apples of his cheeks and his bottom lip caught in between his teeth.

this image of seongwu shyly avoiding minhyun’s eyes makes minhyun want nothing more than to bring him in his arms and envelop him in the warmest hug.

 

with renewed conviction from tonight’s confession, minhyun lowers himself to the water and swims a good distance away. he then calls for seongwu, beckons him to join him in the water with a smile on his face.

seongwu enters the water in a heartbeat. minhyun’s voice calling his name pulling him in like a magnet.

“seongwu.” minhyun says his name again when they’re almost chest to chest. he takes seongwu’s hands into his, feels the callouses on seongwu's fingers with his own, and pulls him even closer until they’re only a breath apart. he then places their entwined hands in between their chests.

 

“kiss me.”

 

it isn’t a demand or a request.

it’s a _plea_.

 

minhyun’s eyes sparkle in a mixture of hope and desperation. he squeezes their hands together tightly before placing a gentle kiss on seongwu’s knuckle.

“please.”

“minhyun,” seongwu brings their foreheads together, his voice shaking. “what if i’m not the right one for you? you could disappear—”

“then i’ll disappear with the feeling of your lips against mine.”

"but if i'm not your fated then i'm bound to forget all of this. i don't want that. i don't want to forget, minhyun."

minhyun lets go of seongwu’s hands and lets his palms rest on seongwu’s waist, thumbing on the flesh under seongwu’s shirt that’s dancing against the current.

“i am a believer of fate and destiny, yes,” he sweeps the hair off of seongwu's face, “but i also believe that we are only fated with the things we choose.”

minhyun traces the arch of seongwu's brow, his eyelids, the bridge of his nose, his cupid's bow, the plumpness of his lower lip.

“and i choose you, seongwu.”

minhyun’s smile is enough for seongwu to push back all his hesitations, his doubts and his fears. he finally lets go of all of these into the ocean, to be lost into the deepest, darkest depths, never to resurface again.

seongwu cradles minhyun’s face in his hands and brings their lips together in the softest kiss.

seongwu’s mind instantly blanks, consumed by the lone feeling of minhyun’s lips against his own. he can hear the pounding of his heart in his ears, feel the pounding of minhyun’s heart from where his palm is splayed over minhyun’s chest, but he loses sense of it all the moment minhyun presses closer and kisses him deeper. 

he kisses minhyun back just as desperately, kissing him fiercely, to savor what could be their first and last kiss.

 

there’s a sudden warm gush in the current, enveloping the both of them. they part, but seongwu brings minhyun into an embrace, holding him as though he were all of life and it was being taken away from him. he held him, feeling he was all of life there was. and it was true.

from the moment their lips touched, seongwu knows he has given his life to minhyun. 

the current grows stronger, almost pulling them apart but they held onto each other until the force subsided. seongwu’s hands fall on minhyun’s back and he opens his eyes to see minhyun with his eyes still closed.

the biggest surprise, however, comes when seongwu’s eyes dart under the water.

 

gone is the beautiful golden tail. 

but is now replaced by an equally beautiful pair of legs.

 

seongwu looks back up to see minhyun’s eyes staring at his own legs with wide eyes.

“seongwu—” he stutters, “my tail—”

both the air and the words are knocked out of minhyun when seongwu brings him into a bone-crushing hug. 

“you’re here. you’re still here.” seongwu's voice shakes, from the nervousness of it all and with the water turning to it's usual freezing temperature.

minhyun looks down at his legs once more and is finally struck by an overwhelming amount of relief and happiness. he returns seongwu’s embrace, a choked sob escaping from his mouth.

“thank you,” he sobs against seongwu’s hair, “thank you for taking the chance.”

“thank you, too,” seongwu pulls back to wipe the tears rolling down minhyun’s face. he disregards the tears rolling down his own cheeks, “for waiting for me.”

minhyun laughs, the hardest one he has ever done, and also wipes away seongwu’s tears.

he sees the light in seongwu's eyes, beautiful and bright, worthy of all those years waiting in the dark.

“you are so beautiful, so bright.” minhyun whispers, his heart feeling like it would explode from the sheer amount of affection he holds for the person right in front of him.

“you are worth the wait.”

 

 

_the whole of my life_

_is a series of winding shortcuts,_

_whose sole purpose is to get to you_

_my only destination_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> the poem at the beginning of the fic is by aylin soto-aleman.
> 
> the other poems i used are the ones shared by seongwu in the fancafe: there is a galaxy in me, blue night, and variations.
> 
> the song which seongwu sang is entitled sad affection. it's the one he sang in mbc radio star. you may listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtNs1Ob6GK0
> 
> i've thrown in poems in the dialogues and everywhere else, i'll post my sources here soon!
> 
> thank you for reading! ♡


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